The Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Senator Allwell Onyesoh, on Friday criticised the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited for repeatedly failing to honour invitations from the National Assembly, describing the action as a setback to legislative oversight and the fight against crude oil theft.
Onyesoh spoke with journalists after a meeting of the Senate committee investigating crude oil theft and considering amendments to Nigeria’s petroleum laws to strengthen the legal and regulatory framework governing the oil and gas sector.
The Rivers East senator had earlier staged a walkout from the committee meeting in protest over what he described as the recurring absence of the NNPCL’s top management at critical legislative engagements.
He said the corporation’s repeated failure to appear before the committee undermined transparency, weakened legislative oversight and reflected a disregard for democratic institutions.
According to him, the committee was merely carrying out its constitutional responsibility by seeking facts, records and explanations from the state-owned oil company.
“We are not contractors. We are simply asking questions. Give us facts. Give us records. We want to study them. That is our constitutional responsibility,” he said.
Onyesoh maintained that the National Assembly has a constitutional duty to scrutinise the activities of government agencies, particularly one responsible for managing Nigeria’s oil resources.
